Have you ever had a problem and exchanged it for another problem? I have, way too often. When I become aware that I am doing this type of exchange I realize that this pattern will continue until I address the root problem, the problem called ‘Richard.’ The great mystics, whether Eastern or Western, ask: Who are You? Many of us Christians think the most important question is: Who is Jesus? Some believe it is: Does God exist? Others think it is: Is there life after death? It seems that these folks ignore the question: Is there life before death? My experience is that it is those (at times including myself) who don’t know what to do with this life who are all hot and bothered about what they are going to do with another life.
One sign for me that I am awake and aware and that I am living in the ‘now’ is that I do not concern myself with what’s going to happen in the next life. I am not bothered about it; I am not anxious – it is as if I am not interested.
When I think of ‘another life’ I ask: What is eternal life? I used to think it is ‘everlasting’ life. But the great theologians who come from a faith tradition that embraces the idea of an ‘after life’ tell us that this is crazy – ‘everlasting life’ is still within time. It is time-focused. Eternal means timeless – NO TIME. As a human I cannot understand this concept for I am time-bound. I can understand time (well, perhaps I cannot even truly understand time), what is timeless is beyond my comprehension.
The great mystics tell us that eternity is right now. NOW. When anxious or dis-eased or distressed I find myself ruminating about my past. I find myself being ashamed of things I did, or didn’t do and I find myself still feeling guilty about choices I made. For me, part of forgiveness involves ‘letting go’ of the past and part of living life is to live in the ‘now.’ When I am able to do this I believe I do experience a taste of eternity which seems to be an endless ‘now’ – no past and no future in eternity, just the endless ‘now.’